MMPI scales and subscales: patterns of older, middle-aged, and younger inpatients

Graying of the critical items: effects of aging on responding to MMPI-2 critical items

The relation between age and several critical item sets on the revised Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2; Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) was examined. MMPI-2 protocols from veterans entering a Veterans Affairs domiciliary were obtained, and the number of Grayson critical items, Koss-Butcher critical items. Lachar-Wrobel critical items, and Caldwell critical items were tabulated. Another critical item set consisting of all items of the previously mentioned sets was also tabulated. This composite set was divided into a set that has items scored on Scales 1, 2, and 3, and a second set of items that were not scored on those three scales. The effect of age on Scales L and K was also studied. A one-way analysis of variance confirmed that the number of endorsed critical items was significantly less in older age groups, and L and K increased. The implication is that endorsement of a critical item may have increased clinical significance as a person ages.

Accuracy of MCMI classification of angry and psychotic black and white patients

This study compared the ability of the MCMI personality scales to accurately predict anger and psychosis in White (n = 778) and Black (n = 272) psychiatric inpatients. Race-adjusted norms (Millon, 1984) were used to compute patients' scale scores. The MCMI successfully predicted anger and psychosis for both races (p less than .001). No difference was found in accuracy of prediction between Whites and Blacks (p greater than .40). In addition, the scales important for prediction were similar for Whites and Blacks. The Passive-Aggressive Scale best predicted anger, whereas the Avoidant Scale best predicted psychosis. The results suggest that the MCMI does predict accurately two important characteristics with both Black and White patients, but some racial bias remains.

Age differences among psychiatric inpatients on the MCMI

A 2 x 2 x 3 MANOVA was applied to MCMI BR scores obtained from 310 newly admitted psychiatric inpatients. The study's purpose was to test the effect of patients' age (age less than 36 vs. age greater than = 36), race (White/Black), and diagnosis (paranoid schizophrenic/nonparanoid schizophrenic/non-psychotic, nonaffectively disturbed) across MCMI personality and clinical syndrome scales. On the MCMI personality syndrome scales, age, race, and diagnosis were significant. Racial differences were consistent with recently reported research (Davis, Greenblatt, & Pochyly, 1990), but the significant differences in diagnosis were opposite the direction that might be predicted from the MCMI manual. Older patients tended to produce lower symptom scale scores than younger patients, with the most meaningful difference found on the Drug Abuse scale.